Please Master guru's here.. Looking for Some help building a new amd hackintosh around avid carbon audio unit

[mrfatcatt]

Hello, I've been putting this off for a while but my 9900 intel cpu that I run Pro tools on is feeling very slow these days. I need to upgrade now. I really want to get a amd 9950x3d and I could use some help. After reading this , im fine with a amd pick and not intel cpu.
https://www.scanproaudio.info/2025/...3d-tested-has-x3d-finally-struck-studio-gold/

I think my biggest issue would be which motherboard to pick because the x870e, i really dont know which boards have efi ready for them. I did some reading and the Hero x870e seem a little over my budget but I will pay the extra money if needed. As @etorix mentions(see below) about 4 months ago a second option would be a x670 but im leaning on a x870e because of the backward compatible with thunderbolt. I would run dual boot and would like to install SEQ or Tahoe down the line. I do like to run windows and gaming a little but the point of this is for pro audio recoding and low latency for audio. I usually buy gigabyte boards, I have no experiance on msi boards and I am always iffy with asus. If i did a 650b motherboard for the less skips to the second chipset what other boards will work besides the Asus ProArt B650 Creator? Efis would be needed. The last Pro art board has issues and I wound up getting a x570 from gigabyte.

My old system is listed below. I would like to use in the new system and the components from my old system. I don't need the fastest m2 drives Mabey just one for recording. I don't need wi-fi .I can buy adapters for pcie slots if needed.

My old system to new!
6800gpu, Rme Aio Pcie, Asus 10g Ethernet card if the tb dont work, Uad pcie dsp card, 3 m2s 1 sata hard drive
1 avid carbon audio unti that can run in thru direct asus 10g ethernet card or thunderbolt to ethernet adapter

Originally @etorix wrote this which still makes things even harder for me to choose a path. Please note my rme card is for windows only and for editing. i may dump it for a usb audio if i dont have enough slots. Just need a basic pro audio for windows to edit fast. My avid carbon is my main unit for pro audio work
Thanks so much anyone gurus!
Mrfatcatt

X670 is, literally, two daisy-chained B650, all going through a single PCIe 4.0 x4 link (Intel is now using PCIe 4.0 x8 for its consumers chipsets). And X870 is a minor design update on X670—so minor that there's no urgency to offer the single chip as B850. This looks like a pitiful marketing trick to have users think they need to buy a new and expensive 800 motherboard with their Ryzen 9000.

See that X670E Gaming Plus block diagram above? On the first chipset, you already have a x4 M.2 slot, plus all the USB and SATA connectivity. Then on the second chipset you have a second M.2 slot, three PCIe slots (x4, x1 and 3.0 x1), the NIC and some more USB. Any network traffic is taking one lane out of the four lanes that the two M.2 drives and the three PCIe slots also need to reach the CPU. If you have your two audio cards in these PCIe slots, there are at the bottom of this chain, sharing traffic with the NIC and USB but it should still fit; now if just one of these two PCIe 4.0 M.2 requires I/0 at the same time, there's not enough bandwith for everyone to operate at nominal rate.
X870 is going to be the same kind of oversubscribed contraption.

If latency matters, I think you should stay clear of X670/X870 and try to have only one hop to the CPU, hence a B chipset.

 

[mrfatcatt]

@CaseySJ yeahhhhhhi got it using disc genius!

 

[CaseySJ]

@CaseySJ yeahhhhhhi got it using disc genius!

I overlooked something. Can you please do this:

• Reboot the computer from the EFI folder on USB flash drive
• At the OpenCore boot menu, select a macOS boot option
• Then post the new opencore-2025-07-...txt log file

If there is no macOS boot option in the OpenCore boot menu, we'll need to create a USB install disk. Have you already created a macOS Tahoe USB install disk?

 

[CaseySJ]

@mrfatcatt,

I've asked CorpGhost on Discord to produce ACPI patches for your BIOS 3222. He'll work on it once he's home from work, in about 6 hours.

Meanwhile, let's generate another OpenCore log file as mentioned in previous post.

 

[mrfatcatt]

It booted half way when i selected it, here are the logs!

 

[mrfatcatt]

@mrfatcatt,

I've asked CorpGhost on Discord to produce ACPI patches for your BIOS 3222. He'll work on it once he's home from work, in about 6 hours.

Meanwhile, let's generate another OpenCore log file as mentioned in previous post.

Ill go on any wokring bios for ACPI patches , @andyxm715 has a working same motherboard as this but I dont know what bios he is running now and he has differnt ram and cpu then me. Mabey he can chime in here with his current bios version?
Awesome thanks!

 

[CaseySJ]

Please switch to the updated EFI folder attached here.

• MMIO White List values have been added to config.plist
• OpenCore logging has been turned off
• Debug version of OpenCore has been replaced with Release version

We need to wait for CorpGhost's ACPI patches. But you're welcome to see if this EFI folder boots the macOS Tahoe installer.

09:041 00:009 OCABC: MMIO devirt 0xE0000000 (0x10000 pages, 0x800000000000100D) skip 0
09:053 00:011 OCABC: MMIO devirt 0xF7000000 (0x7E00 pages, 0x800000000000100D) skip 1
09:063 00:010 OCABC: MMIO devirt 0xFEE00000 (0x1 pages, 0x8000000000000001) skip 0
09:075 00:011 OCABC: MMIO devirt 0xFEE01000 (0x11FF pages, 0x800000000000100D) skip 0
09:087 00:011 OCABC: MMIO devirt 0x1080000000 (0x20200 pages, 0x800000000000100D) skip 0

 

[mrfatcatt]

@CaseySJ It didnt work for my pre built sonoma. Before i go to tahoe, I would like to try his acpi patches. Pro tools and carbon works from other testers results, but ide rather cross that if i need to. Im limited as well with no mac (last system mac os).

 

[CaseySJ]

@mrfatcatt

Yes we should wait for the ACPI patch. Then we can try booting the pre-installed version of Sonoma.

I’ll disable the USB port map in the next version of EFI since that map is for Asus X670E Gene. We’ll have to do USB port mapping once Sonoma boots up.

 

[CaseySJ]

@mrfatcatt,

CorpGhost just delivered the DSDT patches for your motherboard, which have been added to the attached config.plist. The USB Map in this file has been disabled.

Please replace the previous config.plist and try booting Sonoma...

 

[mrfatcatt]

@CaseySJ Its worked! Awesome! Well my carbon started ticking right away liek a loud audio tick, seems like a word clock issue

let me try and figure if i can get carbon working. What should i do now for you? Can i send u any files?

 

[mrfatcatt]

@CaseySJ and other audio curious folks

Well unfortunately I cant get carbon working just yet. Thats the only slot for the 10g. I can try and just pull the main gpu out and see if I get lucky in the gpu slot. with the 10g This card has been flawless in 390 board for years. The uad card doesnt work as well,( i know its old at this point) i pulled it out. I can try a few different bios and then go up to the latest. I did try and down the bios settings to a lower gen 3 for the pcie ports as some people had success in with there uad cards. I had none. The audio just ticked loud as if there was a word clock issue. I checked the 10g patches and there good, ill paste them here. Everything looks legit! If if dont have any luck with a differnt bios, mabey ill just look at talking to you about a new intel system or going to a intel system that will cover my needs and a no brianer abit slower.

I really appreciate the help here. I understand my situation is extremely different then most users and maybe for the gurus you like the challenge. I can always go back to my 390 but its really not going to last 4 more years. If avid made a 10g nick card for windows that had updated code, i wouldn't be in this mess. I would pay a premium for it. I never really thought ua made good a/d d/a cards, there plugs in are great but not worth it imo to go to any system then what i using atm. YMMV


Aquantia AQC107:

Bus: PCI
Vendor ID: 0x1d6a
Device ID: 0x07b1
Subsystem Vendor ID: 0x1043
Subsystem ID: 0x8741
Revision ID: 0x0002
PCIe Link Speed: 8.0 GT/s
PCIe Link Width: x4
Firmware Version: 3.1.88
Driver: com.apple.driver.AppleEthernetAquantiaAqtion
BSD Device Name: en0
MAC Address: f0:2f:74:79:e1:fa
AVB Support: Yes
Maximum Link Speed: 10 Gb/s

 

[CaseySJ]

@mrfatcatt,

Let’s address the Pro Tools Carbon issue first. I understand it’s connected to the Hackintosh via 10Gbps Ethernet (AVB). Your post indicates that the AQC-107 is working properly and AVB support is present. I don’t think it’s necessary to move the AQC-107 to a different slot.

Which version of Pro Tools is currently installed? Is that the only software you’re using to work with the Carbon?

 

[mrfatcatt]

@CaseySJ The unit can work as a stand alone audio device or only in Pt. The image above shows the green light means the unit is connected. The checkbox once ticked, will put the unit into core audio mode so any audio app can use it as a output. If uncheck it will only work in PT. However when ticked there is a pulsing digtal noise coming out of it. I can try and reinstall PT however under my years of experiance with this it should work right away. I will try a differnt bios as well.

I also wanted to ask you if you know any hackintosh user that has working audio thru the

Fenvi 10Gb Network Card, Marvell AQC113 Chip?​

 

[CaseySJ]

...However when ticked there is a pulsing digtal noise coming out of it. I can try and reinstall PT however under my years of experiance with this it should work right away. I will try a differnt bios as well.

To clarify:

• If the Core Audio I/O checkbox is ticked, then there's a pulsing digital noise on the Carbon's audio output?
• If the Core Audio I/O checkbox is unticked, the Carbon only works with Pro Tools, and in this mode it works normally without any pulsing noise?

If the above is true, then:

• If the Core Audio I/O checkbox is ticked and a third-party audio application is connected to the Carbon via Core Audio, does the pulsing digital noise still occur?

I also wanted to ask you if you know any hackintosh user that has working audio thru the

Fenvi 10Gb Network Card, Marvell AQC113 Chip?​

I can post this question for you on TonyMac if you like. I'm not sure that the network card is to blame, but it's possible...

 

[mrfatcatt]

@CaseySJ
I dont think its the asus nick card at all, i think amd mobo/cpus dont play nice with ua or avid as there are no amd machines that are supported. The ua octo card does work in amd but not the duo quad or single. Why in this age...I really dont know. PT was never supported on amd, although it works flawlessly with everything except there hardware. Carbon was made and tested for intel Cpus when it came out. It was coded during the big sur period. I guess i was hoping for big gains here, at least theory wise that was what the whole discussion was at the start fo the thread.

So, i tried the previous bios and then the latest bios which cannot go back. The good news is your efi works with both for booting so for others you can have a working efi for them! For me I had the same problem with carbon. To be honest at this point I should try the intel route and if you dont mind maybe pm you for options moving forward. Last night I was ready to give up so i started looking at other options. This system is not meant for audio. Everything is telling me. I put back my old system and had to make sure everything was cool for work and it is.

Again, ide like to discuss maybe a newer intel path and when we go foward we can keep this thread moviing. Im sure there will be a few other audio guys interested or we can move foward on tonymac of corse since it will be a intel system.

 

[CaseySJ]

@mrfatcatt,

It would be a bit unusual but not entirely out of the question if the Carbon and UAD products work on an Intel motherboard, but not an AMD motherboard. Nevertheless, if you decide to build a new Intel system, I can assist you here or on TonyMac.

 

[etorix]

a loud audio tick, seems like a word clock issue

Tough luck… AMD actually uses different clock/frequency calculations than Intel; finding this actually solved audio issues with AM4 APUs and all AM5 CPUs. Maybe UAD is hardwired to INtel style calculations?

also wanted to ask you if you know any hackintosh user that has working audio thru the

Fenvi 10Gb Network Card, Marvell AQC113 Chip?​

If the issue is with your Aquantia NIC, you'd better try different manufacturer (and a different driver) than merely another model from the same manufacturer.
Intel X500 series (with IntelLucy.kext) and Chelsio T520-BT (with the manufacturer's old kext) cards should work with an AMD hack, fit in your x4 slot (x16 mechanical), and hopefully you may find one for cheap on eBay.

Can you post your IOReg file, so we can check that there's no ACPI issue (unnamed bridge)?

 

[andyxm715]

Ill go on any wokring bios for ACPI patches , @andyxm715 has a working same motherboard as this but I dont know what bios he is running now and he has differnt ram and cpu then me. Mabey he can chime in here with his current bios version?
Awesome thanks!

Hi @mrfatcatt

I'm currently using BIOS version 3222 Dated: 2025/03/07

 

[mrfatcatt]

Hi @mrfatcatt

I'm currently using BIOS version 3222 Dated: 2025/03/07

Casey got me up and running with the lastest bios, so it works with the acpi patches. If u need to update your good to go. I tried at least 5 bios in hackintosh , all the llast gen of bios's. That efi will run a 9800 as well. But read below as it didnt work out for me.

@etorix I returned the system because uad cards did not work on windows or mac, The octo card will run on both but the upgrade is too much since ua is native for like 60 percent of there line of audio plug ins. I found the thoery of this interesting and why i went amd, I just got a aero g 890 intel and im working with casey to try and see if carbon will work in it. Proably that thread will be on tonymac.
If you search this thread, it will explian the amount of work people went thuru to get the uad working on windows with amd with a very bad track record . IMO, where at the point of older audio stuff working better on intel while amd is starting to take over. These audio compainies will make new products and leave the outdate stuff as is. This is why this is brutal to deal with even with this beingthe last upcoming mac os. I know of mabey one other hackintosh user that uses carbon so im on my own bro!

https://gearspace.com/board/music-computers/1160865-amd-ryzen-amp-uad-2-thread.html